Air cleaner



April 26, 1927 1,25,816

c. c. MANCHESTER AIR CLEANER Original Fi led Feb. 21. 1920 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 I Ia IINVENITOR. 21 f 2O 21 ZZZ d cf /yamfieafer BY Z2 7 p j 7 gm TT RNEY I 1525, 816 A nl 26 1927' MANCHESTER 7 AIR CLEANER Original Fiied Feb. 21. 1920 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 IN VEN TOR.

V Hyde a jwancizesier ATTORNEY Patented 26, 1927.

outrun sTATEs PA ENT OFFICE.

ULYDE C. MANCHESTER, OF TOLEDO, OHId, ASSIGNOR TO INDUSTRIAL RESEARCH I CORPORATION, OF TOLEDO, OHIO, A CORPORATION OF DELAWARE,

AIR CLEANER.

application filed February 21, 1920, Serial No. 360,5p7. Renewed September 10, 1926.

This invention relates to improvements in alr cleaners. While it is intended partlcu larly for usein connection. with internal comholding capacity, which may be easily and quickly removed and which is provided with several compartments in order to prevent the undue accumulation of dust in one por tion of the box as might occur under certain circumstances of operation.

Another object of the invention is the combin'ation with a heated elongated surface of an internal combustion engine, such as the cylinder block or the exhaust pipe, of an air cleaner having an elongated slot through which the air must enter the cleaner, the

cleaner being positioned with the slot side adjacent to said heatedsurface, whereby the entering am is not only heated, thus assisting in the process of carburetion, but also the air taken into the device comes from between the cleaner and the engine, where the dust content is less than upon the side of the cleaner remote from the engine, that is, in cases where the engine is mounted upon a tractor or other vehicle. a

Uth'er objects will appear as I proceed with the description of that embodiment of the invention, which, for the purposes of the present application I have illustrated in the accompan ing drawings, in which,

Figure is a view partly in central longitudinal section of a cleaner embodying my invention.

"the upper side thereof. extends through openings in these overtering the cleaner to pass over a heated surface.

Fig. V is a View similar to Fig. IV but showing a deflecting plate added to the cleaner in order to accentuate the'air heating eliect.

The air ofitake pipe through which the clean air leaves the apparatus is indicated by the numeral 10.. When the cleaner is used in connection with an internal combustion engine, this pipe is attached to the air intake of the carburete'r as shown in Fig. IV. When the cleaner is used for other purposes,

the pipe may be attached to any suction creating means, or in case the air to be cleaned is forced through the cleaner rather than drawn through bysuction, the pipe 10 may constitute simply a clean air discharge outlet. As illustrated in the drawings, this pipe is the support from which the cleaner proper is hung. The latter consists in general of a dust separating chamber 11 and a dust box 12. The separating chamber is made up of two parallel end pieces 13 joined by a' rectangular sheet metal element bent into a convolute or helical wall-14,.with spaced overlapping portions 15 and 16 upon lapping portions-and terminates preferably flush with the'lower one. The joints between the pipe 10 and the overlapping portions 15 and 16'are air tight and strong enough to support theweight of the cleaner with the dust box filled.

A baffle plate 17 extends from end to end of the separating chamber, and is positioned at one longitudinal edge adjacent the lower wall 15-o'f the overlapping port-ions' In atransverse direction this bafile plate is curved so as to bring the opposite longitudinal edge some distance inwardly from the wall 15. A baflle 18 similar in shape to the baffle 17 and also extending from end to end of the separating chamber is mounted with one longitudinal edge resting against and preferably secured to the lower wall of the chamber the The oft-take pipe On the under side of the under wall of the sepa'ratin chamber are guides 21 extending for the tn 1 lengthof the chamber. The dust box 12 is made up of end pieces 22-'joined by a curved body portion 23 with outwardly flaring edges adapted to run in the guides 21. At intervals throughout the length of the dust box are partitions 24 dividing the box into compartments, the number of which may be varied to suit diti'erent conditions.

'In operation, my invention depends for its cleaning action upon centrifugal force assisted by gravity. The dirty air entering through the slot between wall and the edge of wall 16, is given a rapid circulatory motion around a horizontal axis, and by reason of this movement the dirt part1cles,wh1ch are heavier than air, are thrown to the outside against the wall of the chamber, and are carried along by the movementof the.

air and by the force of gravity until they drop through the hole or holes 19 to the dust box 12, the clean air passing on in a whirl but being deflected slightly toward the middle of the chamber by the battle 18. If any dirt remains in the air after leaving the .upper edge of battle 18, and is then thrown outward against wall 14, it thereafter descends along that wall'by force of gravity and passes through the opening or openings 20 into the dust box. The air continuing its whirl strikes ba'file 17 and is' again deflected inwardly, after, which a. part of it, particularly the dirty part, may continue its rotation. The clean air, however, being act- 'ed upon by the suction through pipe 10 makes a sudden turn around the lower edge of the baflle l7 and passes thence into the pipe 10. This sudden turn also has a cleanmg effect, as the momentum of any heavy dirt particles 'will tend to cause them to continue in the direction in which they are moving, and thus they are separated out and eventually collect on one side or the other of the chamber wall, and descend along said wall to the dust box. The latter may be re moved at intervals by sliding it longitudinally out of the guides 21 and may then be emptied. Partitions 24 serve to prevent piling up of dust in one end of the box when the device is tilted endwise as might happen where it is used upon a tractor or other vehicle.

In Figs. IV and V, I have illustrated a mode of application of my cleaner to a gas engine, such that certain beneficial results may be obtained which are not inherent in cleanersgenerally. "In Fig. IV the cleaner is identical with that shown and described in the preceding figures, but it is here supported -upon the engine block in such manner as to bring the air inlet side ofthe cleaner towards the engine with the air inlet itself at the upper side edge of the engine exhaust pipe 25, the edge of the overlapping portion 16 of the upper part of the cleaner bearing against the ex iaust pipe so that all of the air entering the cleaner must pass 11 over the surface of the exhaust pipe an become heated thereby. Thus, not only is the air entering the cleaner heated, but furthermore, it is taken altogether from that side of the cleaner which is towards the engine. Hence, when the cleaner is mouned upon a tractor or road vehicle, the air, intake slot is as far away from the road wheel on that side of the ma chine as it is possible to have it, and the dust which is stirred up by the wheel is less dense there than it would be upon the side of the cleaner remote from the engine.

In Fig. IV, I have shown the air ofltake pipe 10 as passing up over the engine block, and down the other side to the carbureter 26, but this isby way of illustration only as it will be readily understood that the carbmfeter may be located upon the same side as the exhaust pipe and air cleaner it desired. Furthermore I desire it to he understood that any heated surface of a length at least equal to the length of the cleaner will answer the purpose of heating the air, and hence the cleaner may be placed adjacent such other heated surface if it isinconvenient or undesirable to mount the cleaner near the exhaust pipe.

In Fig. V isshown a slight modification where an additional deflecting plate 27 of to the side thereof, and is curved or bent soas to' provide an air passage of constant size around a considerable portion of the exhaust pipe 25 or other heated surface. The shape of the plate 27 is of course dependent upon the shape of the heated surface with which it is to be used.

I claim as my invention:

1. In an air cleaner, a separating chamber substantially helical in cross section with its axis horizontal, whereby spaced overlapping walls areprovided upon the upper side of the chamber, an airofl'take pipe extending through said overlapping walls, said chamber having a dust exit opening along the lower portion thereof, and a dust box depending from said chamber around said opening.

2. In an air cleaner, a separating chamber substantially helical in cross section with its axis horizontal, whereby spaced overlapping walls are provided upon the upper side of the chamber. an air ofttake pipe extending through said overlapping walls, a baille plate mounted below the lower end of said offtakei aeaasie 1 gper ice of along the-lower portion thereof, and a dustbox depending from said chamber around said opening. 7

l. in an air cleaner, a separating chamber substantially helical in cross section with its axis horizontal, whereby spaced overlapping walls are provided upon the upper side of the chamber, an air oiftake pipe extending through said overlapping walls, and termi-. hating substantially fiushwith thelower one, a bafile plate extending froinend' to end of said chamber, and curved in cross section mounted below said offtalre pipe" with one longitudinal edge adjacent the chamber wall upon the side of the ofi'take pipe which is nearest the entrance of the air passage and the other edge spaced from said wall, said chamber having a dust exit opeiiing along the lower portion thereof, and a dust box depending from said chamber around said opening.

5. In an air cleaner, a separating chambe substantially helical in cross section with its axis horizontal, whereby spaced overlapping walls are provided upon the upper side of the chamber, an air o'iftake pipe, extending through said overlapping walls, said chamber having dust exit openings at the bottom throughout its entire length, longitudinal guides upon said chamber on opposite sides of the openings and a dust box substantially equal in length to the separating chamber,

slidable in said guides into and out of position.

A 6. In anair cleaner, a separating chamber substantially helical in cross section whereby spaced over-lapping Walls are pro vided above the upper side of the chamber; an air off-take pipe extending through said over-lapping walls; and means for removing dust from said chamber.

7. In an air cleaner, a separating chamber, an air otltake pipe leading therefrom, said chamber having an air inlet passage arranged to cause the air to partake of a whirling motion about a horizontal axis,

the lower wall having an iinperforate portion extending from end to end, and having an opening on each side thereof, a dust box depending from the chamber enclosing said openings, and a transversely curved baflle 7 plate attached at one longitudinal edge to the imperforate portion, and spaced from the wall at its opposite edge, said otftalre pipe with one and a co ering the opening farthest from the air entrance in the path taken by the air.

8. The combination with an internal combustion engine having a heated surface ex tending for a substantial distance in one directionhorizontally, of an air cleaner hav-- ing a horizontally arranged intake slot positioned adjacent said heated surface and a deflecting plate positioned adjacent andcoextensive with the lower wall of said slot.

9. The, combination with an internal com- :bustion engine having aheated surface extending for a substantial distance in one direction horizontally, of an air cleaner having at-horizontally arranged intake slot on onefside a" substantial distance above the bottorn'thereoflsaid cleaner being positioned so. as to,bring said intake slot adjacent theheated surface above the bottom thereof, whereby the air entering the cleaner moves between it and the heated surface eflecting late positioned adjacent and co-extensive with the lower wall of said slot. v V

10. In combination with an-internal combustion engine having a, heated surface ex tending for a substantial distance in one direction horizontally, ofan aircleaner'having a horizontally arranged intake slot positioned adjacentsaid heated surface, and a deflecting plate of i a length substantially equal to that ofthe cleaner attached at its upper edge to the side of the cleaner below said slot, and bent substantially concentric with said heated surface whereby the air entering said slot iscaused first to pass over a considerable portion of said heated surface.

11. Incombination with an internal combustion engine having a side surface extending for a substantial distance in one direction horizontally, of an air cleaner having a horizontally arranged intake slot along one sidethereof, said cleaner being mounted with the slot toward the engine,-and oppoupward] site said side surface and a deflecting plate positioned adjacent and coextensive with the lower wall of said slot.-

12. lln an air cleaner, a separating chamber helical in cross section with its axis horizontal, formed by spaced over-lapping walls, an air off-take pipe extending transversely of said chamber, said chamber having a dust exit opening along the lower portion thereof and adust collecting chamber adjacent said opening.

13. in an air cleaner, a separating chainbcr substantially helical in cross section with its axis horizontal, formed by providing spaced over-lapping walls upon one side" of the chamber, an air off-take pipe extending transversely of said chamber into the interior thereof, said chamber being provided with a dust exit along the lower portion thereof and a dust collecting chamber assoelated therewith,

14. In an air cleaner, a separating chamber substantially helical in cross section whereby spaced over-lapping walls are provided above the upper side of the chamber;

5 an air off-take pipe extending throngh said over-lapping walls; anda dust receptacle in communication with the chamber.

15. In'an air cleaner, a separating cham- I CLYDE C. MANCHESTER. 

